Producers: Shrishti Arya, Sunil Lulla

Writer, director: Goldie Behl

Stars: Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon, Jaya Bachchan

Rating: two

Creative Quotient:

Super heroism runs in this royal family that poor, lonesome Aditya (Abhishek), living in cognito somewhere overseas with his oppressive aunt and her bratty son , must redeem. (The story has deep roots in Harry Potter saga.)

The sole indication of his special status so far are the dancing blue rose petals that humour him through his troubled childhood and youth. On his birthday when he is accosted by his nemesis, the notorious magician Riz Raizada (Kay Kay), things gather pace and suddenly Adi finds himself being safeguarded by an unknown squad of personal security led by the lissome Sonia (Priyanka) whose "babuji" has instructed to shadow the super hero.

The super villain Riz, in the mode of Batmanesque Joker, is a bizarre combination of the absurd and evil. His life-long pursuit of nectar of immortality comes to an end when he comes face-to-face with the traditional custodian, Drona.

Aditya travels back to sandy dunes of his Rajasthani palace where his mother (Jaya) awaits his return since years and years. But when she is reunited with him, the first thing she does is to sing a lullaby! Of course, Riz hot on their heels and he turns the queen mother into a stone statue before she can divulge more details.

We are half way through the film and Aditya hasn't yet donned the super hero mantle. Through a maze of riddles and puzzles, Drona finds his divine steed, Devdutta - the same that he's seen riding ahead of a steam engine.

He rides the horse across the tracks to jump on to the train to fight the hooded soldiers of Riz's army. The whole exercise of circumabulating the trains over and across the train really was pointless. From here on the story just meanders meaniglessly, till Drona finds his sword of power with which he vanquishes the comico-evil Riz.

It's a fantasy that defies realms of entertainment and ends up becoming unmitigated source of ennui for the viewer.

Writers Jaydeep Sarkar and Rohini Killough let down the director and the creative resources totally with their messy screenplay.

Technical Expertise:

Those 1500 VFX, the exotic locales of Prague, Tom Delmar and Sham kaushik's stunning action sequences, Anahita Adjania's period-pertaining styles, Sameer Arya's deft cinematography, Priyanka Chopra's Gataka (Sikh martial art) training, Kay Kay's comical menace and Abhishek's super hero avtaar - are all but wasted in a fantasy that lacks the fairytale appeal and magical intrigue.

The writers are unable to vest super powers in Drona and villainy in Riz, thereby never building up the conflict. The female characters in the film are equally purposeless. Some smart story-boarding and sincere directorial effort could perhaps have rescued this droning saga.

How can director Goldie Behl have his superhero assume a hunched stance instead of squaring his shoulders squarely? Alas! The Drona enterprise fails right there and then.

Rating: